From
Issue #4, Winter 2004
Readers
Theatre - Not Just For Academics!
by Lucy Rioux
Although readers
theatre has been used as a very useful and effective educational teaching
strategy, I have found that it is also a method that can be used for
other areas in education besides academics.
In recent years,
schools have had to expand their areas of concentration to include social
and behavioral issues, including civil rights. As the civil rights team
advisor in my school system, we have made use of the RT modality on
several occasions and for a variety of audiences.
A few years ago,
I was approached by our school counselor on how to present information
about sexual harassment to students in the sixth grade. She provided
me with many informational articles and pamphlets which dealt with this
particular issue. Using a combination of excerpts from these materials,
I created a readers theatre script which was used to present pertinent
information to these students using teachers, parents, and support staff
as the primary "characters". The script was designed for six
readers and included the following parts:
Reader One-- Narrator
One
Reader Two-- Julie, Miss Clark
Reader Three-- John, Ben, Anonymous Student
Reader Four-- Kelly, Professional Counselor #1
Reader Five-- Jennifer, Professional Counselor #2
Reader Six-- Narrator Two
A sample of this
script is presented here...
ALL: What
is Sexual Harassment?
Reader One:
Sexual harassment is unwelcome and unwanted sexual behavior which interferes
with your life.
Reader Six:
Sexual harassment can take many forms. It can be...
Reader Two:
touching or grabbing,
Reader Three:
comment about your body,
Reader Four:
sexual remarks or suggestions,
Reader Five:
conversations that are too personal,
Reader Two:
pornographic pictures or stories,
Reader Three:
obscene gestures,
Reader Four:
offensive displays of sex related objects,
Reader Five:
sexual jokes,
Reader Two:
looks, leers, or noises,
Reader Three:
pressure for dates or sexual favors.
Reader One:
Sexual harassment often involves feelings of helplessness and it can
be distressing when it happens to an adult,
Reader Six:
and particularly frightening when a teenager is the victim.
Reader One:
Sexual harassment can happen between students or between student and
teacher or other adult.
Reader Six:
Sexual harassment is illegal in both the school and the workplace.
Reader One:
Meet Julie, someone who has had experiences dealing with sexual harassment.
Reader Two:
(As Julie) Every day when I leave the lunch room, I have to pass
by "the wall".
Reader One:
This is where approximately 20 male students stand passing judgment
on other students. They call out comments about
physical appearance, sexual activity, and sexual orientation.
Reader Two:
(As Julie) Today, they asked me for a date because they said
I looked like I had the "hots", and they made loud kissing
noises as I walked by. It was gross. And embarrassing...
These scripts contain
information that is very important to students, and this information
is presented in such a way that the students actually listen. Distributing
printed information is useful, but many of these articles go unread
or discarded. In my personal experience, using readers theatre and a
well constructed and well rehearsed script which presents this same
information has been much more effective and has had greater impact
on the general student population.
In my next article,
I will touch upon the effectiveness of using RT for teacher workshop
days...
For a complete
copy of the above script, contact Lucy Rioux at owilde@noctem.org)
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